SECRET BRITAIN
20 historic houses you MUST visit
ALL this week, in a series of superb pullouts for you to collect, the Mail is revealing 100 Glories of Secret Britain: the wonderful sights across the country too few of us know about or visit. Use them to make the most of your summer holiday and marvel at some of Britain’s lesser-known gems. Today,
HARRY MOUNT picks 20 unsung but fabulous country houses . . .
SEZINCOTE HOUSE MORETON-IN-MARSH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, GL56 9AW
A BIZARRE slice of Indian moghul style in the middle of rural Gloucestershire. In 1805, Sir Charles Cockerell, who had made his fortune with the East India Company, commissioned his brother, Samuel Pepys Cockerell, to build this madly fabulous house (above).
Sezincote’s skyline is punctuated by onion domes and chattris — small, domed pavilions. The windows are fan-shaped, like peacocks’ tails. Inside, Indian wallpaper happily collides with gothic motifs and Georgian proportion. It’s like an Indian magician has cast a spell over a traditional British country house — crazy, but adorable. OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Thursdays, Fridays and Bank Holiday Mondays from May to September; 2.30pm to 5.30pm. Adults £10; no children without special permission. (01386 700 422, sezincote.co.uk). WHERE TO EAT: Tea at the house or meals at the Georgian Swan Inn, Moreton-in-Marsh (01608 650711, swanmoreton.co.uk). WHERE TO STAY: The 16th- century Manor House Hotel, Moreton-in-Marsh. Doubles from £170 (01608 650 501, cotswold-innshotels.co.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? Snowshill Manor, a National Trust house; Stow-on-the-Wold, antiques heartland of the Cotswolds.
ATHELHAMPTON HOUSE
DORCHESTER, DORSET DT2 7LG
ATHELHAMPTON, owned by the Cooke family since 1957, is the picture-perfect, medieval country house — its ancient, lichened stone seems to grow naturally out of the Dorset earth beneath. Built in 1485 by the Martyn family, it is the ideal, early
Tudor pile — with super- sized gables, broad, mullioned windows and a castellated hall.
The interior is glorious, high Tudor, too — all linenfold panelling, Gothic fireplaces and tapestries. Walk through the gardens with t heir towering yew pyramids, and you f eel l i ke you’re strolling on to the set of the BBC historical drama Wolf Hall.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Sunday-Thursday, 10.30am-5pm. Sundays only in winter. Adults £13, children £3 (01305 848 363, athelhampton.co.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: The handsome Coach House Restaurant at the house does a wide range of hot meals f eaturing local produce.
WHERE TO STAY: The Old Mill Bed and Breakfast, in a historic mill in its own grounds in Bere Regis, Wareham, Dorset. Doubles f rom £ 85 ( 01929 472 641, theoldmillbereregis.co.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? Thomas Hardy’s cottage i n Higher Bockhampton (National Trust); the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum in Tolpuddle.
CANONS ASHBY
DAVENTRY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE NN11 3SD
THIS 16th-century manor is one of the slumbering treasures of Britain. Begun in 1551 by John Dryden — from the same family as the poet, John Dryden — Canons Ashby expanded in the 17th and 18th centuries and ended up as you see it today — a dominating tower flanked by sober, classical facades.
After those centuries of improvements, the Drydens ran out of money and the house was preserved from the 19th century onwards.
it still feels frozen in time, as you take in the Great Hall, the 16th- century Winter Parlour, the 1710 dining room and the Elizabethan drawing room with its elaborate panels — decorated with pomegranates and Red indian princesses. An architectural time capsule.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Open daily except Thursdays, 1pm-5pm; Adults £8.50, children £4.25, National Trust members free (01327 861 900, national
trust.org.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: A cosy tearoom in the stables serves hot meals as well as afternoon teas.
WHERE TO STAY: The Landmark Trust lets out the tower from £250 for two people for three nights ( landmarktrust.org.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? The landscape garden at Stowe, Warwick Castle.
BECKFORD’S TOWER
LANSDOWN ROAD, BATH BA1 9BH
WILLIAM BECKFORD was one of the great eccentrics of Regency England. He blew much of his inherited fortune on Britain’s tallest Gothic tower at Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire, only for it to come crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, this smaller — but still imposing — tower survives, dominating the skyline of Bath.
Begun in 1826, the tower is classical, with details borrowed from ancient Greece. inside, you can see Beckford’s Scarlet Drawing Room, designed in italian villa style.
The views across Bath — England’s greatest classical city — are glorious.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays, 10.30am-5pm. Adults £4.50, children £2 (01225 460 705, beckfordstower.org.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: Sally Lunn’s, inventor of the Sally Lunn bun, is in one of Bath’s oldest houses and offers a wide menu (01225 461 634, sallylunns.co.uk).
WHERE TO STAY: Stay in the Landmark Trust flat in the tower. From £510 for three nights, sleeps four ( landmarktrust.org.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? No 1 Royal Crescent, a perfectly preserved Georgian townhouse, and the Roman Baths, both in Bath.
CLAYDON HOUSE
AYLESBURY VALE, BUCKS MK18 2EY
CLAYDON looks fairly ordinary from the outside — a pretty but plain, classical box. Step inside, though, and you are in one of Britain’s greatest interiors.
it was designed in 1757 for the Verney family by Luke Lightfoot, a genius carver of the rococo style — the light, frothy, curvy designs that swept across Europe in the late 18th century.
This is fantasy architecture — birds, leaves, lions’ heads, all carved with twirling j oy by Lightfoot. He also designed a heavenly Chinese Room, crammed with bells, pagodas and a Chinese tea ceremony room. Do visit Florence Nightingale’s bedroom — she was a relation of the Verneys.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Saturday- Wednesday, 11am-5pm. National Trust members free. Adults £7.50, children £3.75 (01296 730 349, nationaltrust.org.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: The Carriage House Restaurant and Tea Rooms enjoys a grand setting in Claydon’s Courtyard.
WHERE TO STAY: The Bell Hotel, Winslow,
has double rooms from £74 per night, (01296 714 091, thebell-hotel.org).
WHAT’S NEARBY? Bicester Village, the discount designer outlet; Winslow Hall Opera at nearby Winslow; Waddesdon Manor, another spectacular National Trust house.
LANHYDROCK
NR BODMIN, CORNWALL PL30 5AD
THIS 1620 palace looks like it's been rooted in the Cornish soil for ever, but a fire i n 1881 almost obliterated the interiors. it was owned by the Robartes family for 250 years until it was given to the National Trust in 1953.
So what you now have is a delicious combination of a 17th-century shell wrapped round a series of high Victorian interiors: a dining room with William Morris wallpaper; Lord Robartes’s bedroom with Pugin wallpaper; and a billiard room lined with furry hunting trophies.
The Long Gallery, which survived the fire, has a 116ft-long plaster ceiling showing Old Testament scenes, fringed with flowers, animals and birds.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Monday - Sunday, 11am-5.30pm. Adults £11.70 children £5.85. National Trust members free (01208 265 950, nationaltrust.org.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: Lanhydrock has its own Park Cafe and licensed restaurants in Downton Abbey below-stairs settings the Victorian Serv keeper’s and Housemaids' rooms.
WHERE TO STAY: The Lanhydrock Hotel in Bodmin, Cornwall is a modern, comfortable hotel with a golf course. Double rooms from £109 per night (01208 262 570 lanhydrockhotel.com).
WHAT’S NEARBY? The antiques shops of Lostwithiel; the wild beauty of Bodmin Moor with its dramatic granite outcrops.
MUNCASTER CASTLE
RAVENGLASS, CUMBRA CA18 1RQ
MUNCASTER looms over Eskdale, a craggy fortress that could come straight out of TV series Game of Thrones. Although the castle has been in the Pennington family since 1208, the ancient looking building was almost entirely designed in 1862 by Anthony Salvin, the Victorian master of the fantasy castle.
You could well believe the Great Hall was medieval, with the heraldio glass of the windows, the sprawling stone fire-place and the ranks of family portraits.
Look out for the walls in the dining
room — lined with leather stamped with gold leaf — and the picture of Tom skelton, the ‘last Fool of Muncaster’, court jester at the castle in the 16th century.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: sundayFriday, 12pm to 4pm, and all saturdays on Bank holiday weekends. Adults £13.50, Children £8. (01229 717 614,
muncaster.co.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: Creeping Kate’s Cafe at the castle serves hot meals and teas, including delicious homemade cakes.
WHERE TO STAY: The dramatically sited Coachman’s Quarters i n the castle grounds offers B&B from £80.
WHAT’S NEARBY? Muncaster’s owl sanctuary; the Roman Bath house at Ravenglass ( english-heritage.org.uk).
ROUSHAM HOUSE
ROUSHAM, STEEPLE ASTON, OXON OX25 4QU
ROushAM is a story of staggering survival — a sleepy, enchanted house nestling in the first great english landscape garden. The house is still lived in by the Dormer family, who built it in 1635. And it’s the chunky, castellated, original house that dominates Rousham.
Classical stables and wings were added by the great architect and interior designer William Kent.
he was also responsible for the 18thcentury follies in the garden: temples, sham ruins, bridges, cascades, all halfhidden in the landscape, so that you fall on them with surprise, as if theyy had been designed by the hand of nature, and not by Kent’s gifted touch.
Despite its crucial place in the history of english landscape, Rousham is often empty — how easy it is to teleport yourself back to the 18th century.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Gardens open all year, 10am-4.30pm. Garden tickets, £5 ( rousham.org). Rousham house is open only by pre-booking — £10 per person, minimum fee £120. Contact Charles Cottrell-Dormer, 01869 347 110, or email
ccd@rousham.org. Children under 15 not admitted, unless by prior arrangement.
WHERE TO EAT: The Killingworth Castle in Wootton is a gastropub with good, local food (01993 811 401, thekilling
worthcastle.com).
WHERE TO STAY: The Feathers, , Woodstock, a pretty townhouse hotel. Doubles from £199 (01993 812 291, feathers.co.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? Blenheim Palace, the colleges of Oxford university.
SEATON DELAVAL HALL SEATON SLUICE, NORTHUMBERLAND NE26 4QR
ARChiTeCT John Vanbrugh loved to give his buildings — from Castle howard to Blenheim Palace — what he called a ‘castle air’. Never was the effect better achieved than at seaton Delaval — a classical early 18th-century building so rugged and chunky that it feels like a castle.
The castle air was helped by a tragic fire in 1822, which left the house halfruined and blackened. The wings — one of which houses Vanbrugh’s terrific stables — survived intact, while the central block is still scarred by the fire. The r esult i s haunting — half- decay, half-magnificence.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: 11am-5pm, daily in August. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays in september. Adults £6, children £3, National Trust members free (0191 237 9100, nationaltrust.org.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: sandwiches and teas are served i n the atmospheric stables. Good fish and chips at seaton sluice, one mile away.
WHERE TO STAY: Malmaison, Newcastle, is a boutique hotel on the banks of the Tyne. Doubles from £85 (0191 245 5000,
malmaison.com).
WHAT’S NEARBY? hadrian’s Wall; Newcas
tle city centre.
STRATFIELD SAYE HOUSE
STRATFIELD SAYE, HANTS RG7 2BT
This large 1635 classical house, with Dutch gables, was given to the Duke of Wellington by a grateful nation after his victory at Waterloo.
it is still lived in by the current Duke — and it remains a temple to the achievements of his ancestor. The library has books once owned by Napoleon. Wellington’s horse at Waterloo, Copenhagen, is buried in the grounds, and a lock of Copenhagen’s mane is kept in the library.
The style of the interiors is, funnily enough, largely French. But, then again, among his many glittering appointments, Wellington was ambassador to France.
OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: 12-5pm, guided tour only. Adults £10, children £4. The gardens are open Monday-Friday, 11.30am-5pm, £4 a ticket; weekends and Bank holidays, 10.30am-5pm, £5 (01256 882 694, stratfield-saye.co.uk).
WHERE TO EAT: There is a small tea-room at the house serving light sandwich lunches and cakes. For more substantial meals, head to The iron Duke in stratfield saye ( theironduke.com).
WHERE TO STAY: The Wellington Arms hotel has doubles from £95 (01256 882 214, wellingtonstratfieldturgis.co.uk).
WHAT’S NEARBY? The Vyne, a Tudor
, NationalNa Trust house; the Roman ruins at silchester.
WWALMER CASTLE
DE DEAL, KENT CT14 7LJ A ChARMiNG pocket castle on the Kent coast, built by henry Viii in 1539. Behind the imposing stone walls, you’ll find a small Georgian country house, home to the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports since 1708.
Among those who have held the position are the Queen Mother and the Duke of Wellington, who died here in 1852. his simple, low-ceilinged bedroom is kept as it was on the day he passed away in his armchair, alongside the camp bed he slept on.
Walmer has just been renovated and there’s a new exhibition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
OP OPENING TIMES AND TICKETS: Daily 10am6pm,6p english heritage members free. AdultsAd £9.70, children £5.80 (01304 364288,
en english-heritage.org.uk).
WH WHERE TO EAT: The Lord Warden’s Tea RoomRo in the castle does hot meals and afternoonaft teas.
W WHERE TO STAY: The castle has lovely holiday flats overlooking its huge garden. From £280 for three nights. Call 0370
333 1187 or email holidaycottages@ english-heritage.org.uk
WHAT’S NEARBY? Dover Castle and Deal Castle, both english heritage, also perched on the coastline.